Eccentric
by peanutbutter126
Summary: Rosalie finally realises that no matter how hopeless you feel, you can always count on a sister.


Eccentric

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a fic based on Alice and Rosalie. I like examining Rosalie's relationship with the other characters, and there don't seem to be much Alice and Rosalie stories out there. This story takes place after New Moon and before Eclipse. And I apologise if I know less about Porsches than I do about how to wake up at ridiculous hours in the morning. And I'm also sorry if Rosalie seems a little out of character.

I put my hands on the bathroom sink and leaned forward to inspect my image in the mirror, letting my golden eyes rake over the perfectly sculpted features on my face. Then my eyes stopped over their reflection and for a moment, I was staring straight into my own eyes.

It often intrigued me to see what I could find in my eyes. They were the most truthful part of a person's body, including one such as mine. I was satisfied to see that I wasn't staring into dark pupils; that would mean I was thirsty. No, I had my thirst under manageable condition. What surprised me was the sadness I saw.

Unconsciously, my hands tightened on the sink. As debris fell slowly to the polished tiles, I realised what I was doing and stepped back. The bottom part of the basin was engraved with the perfect curves of my fingers. I stared for a moment. I had never lost my composure like that before. Hopefully no one would think to look at the spot.

The sadness, what was it? I could think of no reason to why I would be depressed. I had a beautiful figure, a beautiful husband and a beautiful family. What was missing? My eyes flickered back to the mirror, and then I realised. A beautiful life. I would never have it. Because I had no life.

The sound of a vehicle in the driveway attracted my attention. I thought for a moment that it was Emmett and Jasper back early from their hunting trip. But the sound of the engine was too gentle and smooth to be the monstrous Jeep Emmett called his transportation. I decided that it was a new vehicle and left the bathroom to investigate.

A bright yellow Porsche stood proudly in the middle of the driveway. Even prouder was its driver. Alice was running her hand over the hood of the car, letting her fingers linger on the cool metal. She looked up and grinned when she heard me.

"Hey, Rose!" she called enthusiastically. Seeing that I was alone, she gestured for me to join her. I did, noticing that the car was brand new.

"Gift?" I asked her, wondering exactly what her previous vehicle – and the ones preceding that one – had done to earn a spot in the dusty, unused corners of our spacious garage.

"From Edward," she said, sounding triumphant. "Present for rescuing him from the Volturi and bringing Bella back from the dead."

_Ah…here we go_. The guilt slowly ebbed back. So there was more to my earlier sadness. It had been weeks since Alice and Bella had traveled to Volterra in a vain attempt to race against time and prevent Edward from trying to get himself killed. But I still held the terrible remorse I felt whenever the subject was brought up. It had been me, after all, who had foolishly acted before thinking and almost become the culprit of three deaths. Even though Bella had generously voiced her forgiveness, the blame was on me. It still was.

Alice's brow pulled together when she saw my unfocused gaze. "Sorry," she said softly, placing her hand gently on my arm. "I didn't mean to bring that up."

The contact of her skin against mine startled me out of my reverie. I wasn't quite used to anyone but Emmett touching me. Not even Alice, the most expressive of all of us, chose to maintain regular physical contact with me. _I wonder why,_ I thought to myself dryly.

"How fast can it go?" I asked, nodding at the Porsche. It wasn't a very subtle change of subject.

Alice watched me with sadness in her eyes, and then she let her hand drop down to her side. "The most I could get out of it was two-sixty per hour," she answered, trying to return her voice to its usual chipper tone. She missed the mark.

I started to roll up the sleeves of my jumper. My toolbox was next to the front porch where I had left it the night before after working on my M3. I carried it to the Porsche and opened the lid, searching around for tools.

"I'll see if I can get it over three-hundred," I said without looking up. Working on vehicles was the best form of distraction for me. Emmett and Esme had told me endlessly to let the past stay in the past, and even though I was not quite successful in my attempts, I was still willing to comply.

As if understanding my need to suddenly get my polished hands dirty, Alice stepped back to let me slide under her car. "Thank you, Rose," she said.

"It's the least I can do," I muttered despite myself as I put my tools down on the ground next to me. I reached for one of them and let my mind merge into my task. I didn't dare hope that Alice had missed my hopeless comment, and I waited for her to leave. She didn't.

Instead, I heard her sigh. "Don't you think you have better things to do with your time than blame yourself for something that everyone tells you to forget?"

I narrowed my eyes and suddenly wished that I didn't have supernatural hearing. I had heard that so many times that it was become a broken record. For the first time ever, my fingers slipped on the handle of the spanner. I deftly caught it before it hit the ground and continued working. But the damage was done. A chink had formed in my armor.

"I try," I answered reluctantly, working even faster. "But I don't seem to be very successful, do I?"

Alice was silent for a few minutes. I could picture her sitting on the hood, swinging her legs. However, the image didn't suit what she said next.

"I've noticed you haven't been around Edward anymore than you have around Bella. They remind you, don't they? Would it be better if I went out of town for a week or two to let you settle your mind?"

I was surprised by her offer. "No," I said quietly. "It's pointless."

There was a slight breeze, and then Alice was suddenly on her back next to me, staring up at the underbelly of her car – and at me. I didn't look at her and replaced my spanner with another tool, trying to ignore the fact that she was only inches from me.

"See?" she said triumphantly moments later. "You aren't looking at me. I really _should _stay out of your way for a few days, shouldn't I?"

"No, you shouldn't," I grunted. I shuffled along so that I had created half a metre of distance between us, working on another section of the Porsche. All the time, I tried to convince myself that I meant what I said.

If there was one thing I should – and did – know about Alice, it was that she was the most persistent creature on the planet. She had her hand around my wrist in seconds, stopping my hand from working. I sighed and finally turned my head to look at her. Her pixie-like face was the most serious I had seen from Alice.

"Do you want the truth, Rosalie?" she demanded.

"What truth?" I said, my voice suddenly a pathetic whisper.

"Your future. I see it." She didn't give me time to prepare myself. "If you continue to wallow in self-pity like this, your life will fall apart sooner or later. You'll become a depressed wreck."

"I no longer have a life," I whispered. "I lost it the day Carlisle chose to change me."

"Yes, you do," Alice said fiercely. I saw her eyes blaze even in the darkness. "You have a family and they love you. _I _love you. You are my sister and you have no idea how much it worries me to see your future the way it is every single day."

Her words touched me. Alice was, technically speaking, just an acquaintance, a friend, if you did not take into account the fact that we lived together and had for many years. In the decades that I had known her, Alice had become as close to being my sister as anyone could. It seemed that Alice had felt that connection long before I did.

"I almost got you killed," I reminded her. My hand tightened on the tool in my hand and I knew at once that I would need to pay a visit to the hardware store again soon. A scrap piece of metal was not capable of performing the tasks I had in mind for it – or what I had once been.

"And I was mad at you," she answered matter-of-factly. "Wasn't that enough for you? It was certainly enough for me. Or do you want me to forever be an angry old lady just so that you won't have to turn away everytime I'm near you?"

I thought about replying yes, but knew that it was not what I really wanted, and paused. It surprised me that of all the people, including Bella, who had tried to console me, it was _Alice _who actually succeeded. Not even Emmett had been able to distract me from my darker thoughts for very long.

"I'm older than you," I told her, pleased to note that my voice had returned to normal. I discarded the lump of metal in my hand and heard it drop heavily to the ground.

"Of course," she replied. She sounded quietly relieved.

I let her stay with me for another minute, and then decided that it was time I had some time to myself. "If you want me to finish configuring your car, I think you should leave me for a while."

In typical Alice-fashion, she hovered uncertainly. Then she lithely pulled herself out form under the vehicle. "You'll get it finished in the next twelve minutes," she said confidently. I heard her brushing herself off. "Come into my room after that. I require your expertise in clearing space in my wardrobe."

I laughed softly. "Request accepted."

Her dance-like steps lightened in volume as she entered the house. I continued to work on the Porsche. My hands worked by themselves as my mind wandered. For a fairly eccentric person, Alice could be quite intuitive, as she had just displayed. I felt a small smile touch my lips.

"Sometimes, Alice," I said quietly, knowing that she could hear me, "I am strangely glad that you are my sister."

I heard her chuckle and shared the moment with her.


End file.
